Blue

Rainbow Dash ran for her life, a life she felt rapidly fading away. Her thoughts only focused on escape, not what comes after that. Bleeding heavily from her lost wings and ear, she wasn't sure if she could make it. She bolted through a barricade of vines, and arrived at a familiar place, lit by the moon adorned with Luna's visage. She panted heavily, each step bringing her closer to final exhaustion. With a final push, the pegasus stumbled inside the dreaded ruins, loudly collapsing near the entrance. Bright colors and intricate shapes flashed before her eyes. She knew she was dying.

The swirling vortex took a more familiar form. Rainbow laughed manically.

"So I'm seeing Luna's ghost now? I must be dead already."

"No, child, you are alive," the mirage answered, "but I have little to do beside hearing your last words. What fate has befallen you?"

"They got me... no, us. The others all fell, after we stopped to bury Trixie. The search parties caught us."

The image before her seemed sad. "If only I had known. Alas, I was here, in solistice, unaware of your plight. It is my fault."

Rainbow shook her head. "No, that's not true. We wasted too much time arguing before we tried to find a doctor for Trixie. It was all in vain. And it was all my fault."

"Fate is cruel, my little pony. I was here all along, meditating on the past, while your friends were dying because of injustice."

Rainbow groaned. The answer was here all along, with this mirage. She felt something stop inside her body. The pain became unbearable for a moment, then it all stopped, and Rainbow Dash passed away.

______________________________________________________________________________

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

______________________________________________________________________________

"Rainbow! Wake up! Rainbow!" a desperate cry echoed. Her eyes popped open, and she shrieked loudly for the horrors she had seen. She saw Vinyl standing above her, looking at her with worried eyes, Trixie, glaring from the broken mirror she was sitting in front of, even Shining Armor perked up his head, looking somewhat determined and surprised, but infinitely sad, also.

Rainbow jumped out of her bed, and inspected her back. Two cyan-colored wings were flapping on her back. The number of wings on her back was two. She did not observe not two wings placed upon her shoulders. Still under the effect of her dream, she slowly walked behind Trixie. The unicorn turned to her, looking bored.

"What is it, Spectrum? Gobbles is busy."

Rainbow poked her. The unicorn blinked in surprise, but before she could react, the pegasus embreced her in a tight hug, sobbing loudly. Trixie froze for a second, but then returned the hug awkwardly.

"What's the matter, Spectrum?" she asked unusually soft, "Had a nightmare?"

The pegasus let go of her, sniffing. "I had a dream... you were dead. All of you. But Trixie, for your death, I somehow felt responsible. I couldn't save you."

Trixie shrugged. "Well, Gobbles is not immortal, so she will die sooner or later. Maybe sooner than she deserves."

Vinyl turned to Shining, who was rubbing his temples with his front hooves, and had a generally pained expression.

"Hey, uh, glad to see that you've regained your senses. Could you divulge us into what happened, too?"

"Wait, Vinyl." Rainbow objected. "You've seen how he was yesterday, we can't put him through that again!"

Shining Armor shook his head.

"I thank you for your concern, Miss Dash, but I think it is way due time somepony knows the truth... no matter how hard it is for me. I must be strong, for the sake of Equestria."

"Equestria? We're talking about you, not the country."

"I think you will realise this is about bigger things here, after I explained the events that occured."

"Hey, not to interrupt or anything, dude, but you don't hafta 'Miss' me all the time. Just call me Vinyl."

"Yeah, it's not like we haven't met before." added Rainbow.

"Well, all right." Shining got off the bed, stretching his legs. He froze when a thought entered his mind. "Please, before we start, could somepony explain how I got into bed? My memory is a bit blurry for the afternoon."

"Oh, that's easy, Trixie put you in there." Vinyl replied.

The Stallion turned to the azure unicorn. "Thank you."

"You can thank Gobbles by not kicking in your sleep. It's not very genlecoltly." She paused to think. "Or you can be the big spoon next time, Gobbles supposes."

The stallion blushed.

"You mean you've slept beside me?!"

Trixie turned to face him.

"Yes, Dented Shield, that happened. You just proved to Gobbles that you should not be loved for your quick thinking. Oh well, there is always horn size!"

The stallion eyed her in suspicion, ignoring the last part.

"Why do you call me that particular name?"

"Don't mind her, she does that. Nicknaming, I mean." Vinyl interjected. "What is important is that you finally tell us what the hay are you doing here!"

Shining's features showed incredible sorrow. "All right, it is time I tell you what happened yesterday. I have to warn you, however, I will only explain this once, because it pains me greatly just to think about it. It started yesterday morning..."